Night fell.
Cyberpunk-style neon lights cast the entire Exile Star in mottled brilliance. The world of night never lacked revelers. After a busy day, the planet's largest tavern blared music that awakened the madness lurking within people's hearts. Alcohol-like substances and exotic bodies constantly stirred every kind of desire in those who took part.
The Star Hunter set out. His final words brimmed with passion for the hunt: "Tonight, I'm hunting to my heart's content!"
Then he set off with the Memory Eraser Tang Chuan had given him.
Tang Chuan himself still chose this huge, bustling drinking hall, intending to gather some information here.
Beneath the dancers' runway.
Outside the bartender's counter.
Inside the randomly matched booths.
His figure drifted everywhere. Through generous spending—or rather, an extravagant money offensive—he swiftly rose to become a high-ranking VIP customer of the "Prehistoric Beast" drinking hall.
With the manager's introduction, he also arrived at a large booth partially screened by bead curtains.
It was roughly thirty square meters.
Half the occupants were humanoid creatures, while the other half were other lifeforms whose appearances defied description.
Various contraband items were openly displayed at their waists and on the booth's table.
The manager introduced him, "This is one of our highest-tier random booths. It mainly serves as a social platform for high-ranking clients like yourselves. Everyone, this is Mr. Tang Chuan. On his first visit, he was promoted to Supreme VIP customer. He's also an interstellar traveler. Please do me a favor and don't make things difficult for him."
A flashy-dressed humanoid creature with a pair of strange beast horns, their patterns spreading across half his face, waved a hand. "Why would we make things difficult for him? Come on, brother, sit beside me. Let's play Brahma Cards. A thousand gold per round. The winner treats everyone to an Illusion Emperor Cake, or a dancer."
The manager gave a wry smile. "My esteemed Lord Moxiu, everyone knows your Brahma Cards skills. A few days ago, the last major casino on Exile Star put your name on its banned-entry list. It even made the news.
"A thousand gold is enough to activate our drinking hall's basic VIP customer status. Please don't scare Mr. Tang Chuan away."
The horned man called Moxiu waved dismissively. "Stop rambling and get back to work. Do you think Brother Tang Chuan is an idiot? We don't eat people—ah, no, only An Bo does occasionally. Everyone here gets along happily. Don't worry, we won't cause trouble for your establishment."
Tang Chuan clicked his tongue and shook his head, making the helpless manager leave.
With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he dropped into the seat beside Moxiu and asked, "How do you play Brahma Cards?"
"Oh?"
A strange creature beside them pushed away the dancer at his waist and sized Tang Chuan up. "Did you really not hear that, or were you pretending? You actually dare play cards with Moxiu? Is your belt tied tight enough?"
Tang Chuan looked at the Brahma Cards in his hand, each painted with different things, and glanced at the creature from the corner of his eye. "Whether it's tied tight enough, we'll know once your wife tries it."
Bang!
The strange creature slammed a hand onto the table and stood up, drawing everyone's attention.
Tang Chuan jumped, and one of the Brahma Cards in his hand fell onto the table and got wet.
He shook the soggy card, looking baffled. "What's wrong? You don't have a wife, so you want to try it yourself? Don't. I can't do that."
The atmosphere froze.
The music outside the booth stood in stark contrast to the subtle tension within.
For a moment.
Then the strange creature suddenly burst out laughing.
Seeing this, everyone else also doubled over with laughter.
The strange creature climbed over the table and plopped down beside Tang Chuan, placing a dozen colorful drinks before him.
"Ha ha ha ha! You're wrong. I have wives, and more than one! How about this? I like the look of you. Pick any number from one to eighteen. Whichever one you pick, I'll have one of my eighteen wives test tonight whether your belt is tied tightly enough!"
Tang Chuan scratched his forehead and said helplessly, "Forget it. I don't think much of your taste. Let's just drink."
The strange creature said in a muffled voice, "Fine! My name is An Bo. You're the first person I've met here who isn't afraid of me. You look pretty tasty, but you're interesting. If you beat Moxiu at cards and beat me at drinking today, we'll be good brothers!"
Tang Chuan hesitated. "What if I lose?"
An Bo gave a dry laugh and said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Then you'll get drunk, fucked, slaughtered, castrated... who knows?"
Tang Chuan ignored him and looked at the Brahma Cards in his hand. "How do these work?"
Moxiu leaned closer at that point and patted Tang Chuan's shoulder. "Good brother, I'll teach you. No tuition fee—at least not until you learn, heh heh heh..."
After Moxiu explained it, Tang Chuan quickly grasped the rules of Brahma Cards.
Then Moxiu, An Bo, and Tang Chuan began playing together.
Moxiu played a card and confirmed, "If you lose, you give me ten thousand gold per round. If you win, I only have to answer one question for you, right?"
Tang Chuan nodded. "That's right. But anyone who lies gets their tongue cut out. Ha ha, just kidding. It's a custom in my hometown—we respect tongues very much and don't cut them off casually. We just twist off their heads and kick them around like balls."
As he spoke, he played a "King" card.
An Bo looked at his own cards and clicked his tongue. "It's been a long time since I've seen such a bold alien. Do you even know what we do? Disaster comes from the mouth."
With that, he closed his hand of cards. "Pass. Can't beat it."
It was Moxiu's turn again. Smiling, he directly tossed out three identical "Queen" cards. "This ends your right to play for this round. Unless you have three King cards, you lose the right to play. So? Do you have three King cards?"
The answer was obvious.
A deck of Brahma Cards only had three copies of each card. Tang Chuan had played one already, so naturally there were no three Kings left.
Tang Chuan closed his cards. "Keep playing."
Smack!
Moxiu threw the cards in his hand onto the table. "Twelve titles, the greatest celestial straight. That's it. Pay up~"
"Wait."
An Bo cackled beside him and tossed out three cards. "I have three 'Gambler' cards. They exempt me from the wager this round."
Both of them threw down their cards and looked at Tang Chuan, whose face had gone stiff, with smiles.
"Pay up."
Tang Chuan also laid his hand on the table, sounding surprised. "It does look like you won. But doesn't a deck only have three copies of each title? You already played three Queens, yet your full-title celestial straight in the second round has an extra Queen in it, along with the Gamblers... Where did those come from?"
The atmosphere turned strange.
Moxiu stretched, exposing the forbidden weapon at his waist, and said casually, "Don't worry about where they came from. You shuffled the cards and dealt them. I had my sleeves rolled up the whole time. Since the cards were dealt wrong, I have reason to suspect you were trying to cheat and got caught by me. Or... maybe I cheated?
"Either way, if you didn't catch me in the act, a loss is a loss!
"Alien, welcome to the warm and hospitable Exile Star!"